UCSF Medical Center's "Partners in Care" auxiliary hosted its inaugural fundraising gala on Nov. 15, 2012, with a colorful benefit on Potrero Hill that drew 200 guests paying $125-$175 per person (and some even chipping in as much as $10,000 for the cause.) Contortionists and acrobats provided the "Cirque du Soiree" entertainment, tying themselves in knots so that patients and their families at UCSF don't have to. Partners in Care, and its younger donors group, Infusion, work to provide patients with comfort services, such as special pillows for heart surgey patients, newspapers, coffee and other helpful things that make staying in the hospital and visiting easier in times of family medical crisis. Co-chairs for the event were Bailey Locke and Lisa Gruber. UCSF consultant Marsha Monro dreamed up the whimsical theme for the fundraising, "friend-raising" event.

Katie Budge, Mark Laret, and co-chairs Bailey Locke and Lisa Gruber. Locke said she became interested in joining Infusion after her father ended up at UCSF for a bone marrow transplant. "I saw the care given to him," she said, "and I decided to join."